The BPM Goal Hexagon: an update to the Devil’s Quadrangle

Business process management has traditionally focused on time, cost, quality, and flexibility as goal dimensions, known as the Devil’s Quadrangle. In light of novel emerging factors such as employee values, environmental, social, and governance requirements, as well as conscious business models, this paper investigates whether the traditional four goal dimensions of the Devil’s Quadrangle remain suitable today. Based on an extensive analysis of recent business process redesign projects published in case studies, we offer a timely assessment of the adequacy of the Devil’s Quadrangle in current times and suggest extensions to the concept, incorporating insights from a secondary study on robotic process automation. More specifically, we extend the Devil’s Quadrangle to the BPM Goal Hexagon by retaining time, quality, and flexibility, but refocusing cost to a more balanced economics dimension and adding a people dimension as well as an environment dimension. The BPM Goal Hexagon offers scholars and practitioners a timely tool to revisit the real-world relevance and sufficiency of their business process management project goals, methods, and tools.